


Con-scent-quences

by Contrail



Series: Differing Times [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Friendship, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 15:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11900397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Contrail/pseuds/Contrail
Summary: Sometimes Dragon Slayers made it difficult to keep secrets.





	Con-scent-quences

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.

Waking up in bed together the next morning without any doubts that they all wanted to be there together was a new but quite welcome experience. They were slow to stir from the bed, wanting to enjoy the feeling of just being together for a while, but eventually Juvia was the first one to head to the bathroom for a shower. Gray and Lyon took their own turns showering while Juvia dried her hair.

When Lyon emerged from the bathroom, he was greeted by the sight of Gray wandering around in nothing but a towel and Juvia still in her bathrobe finishing up drying her hair. Unable to resist the temptations set before him, now that he knew his affections would be welcome, he slipped up behind Gray and wrapped his arms around the other man's waist as he nuzzled the nape of his neck. After Gray let out a pleased hum, Lyon looked over his shoulder at the seated Juvia and gave her an inviting smile. That was all the encouragement she needed to join them, sandwiching Gray between her and Lyon as she brought Gray's head down for a sweet, lingering kiss.

Soon they were back in the bed, sharing pleasure between themselves again. Being able to indulge in this freely, without doubt, guilt, or regret, was still a new and exciting thing for them all. And Lyon would need to return to Margaret Town and his own guild soon, so who could blame Gray and Juvia for wanting to be with him while they could?

Once they were all finished, they cleaned the mess they'd just made off themselves and got dressed, lest they give into the temptation to stay in bed with each other for even longer. Juvia made the three of them a late breakfast, which they lingered over for a while, and then it was time for them to see Lyon off on a train home.

At the train station, Gray found himself regretting that he'd agreed to act like they always had when out in public. He wasn't a big fan of public displays of affection by any means, but it didn't feel quite right anymore to keep his distance from Lyon and simply wish him a safe trip home. Lyon promised to make another visit to Magnolia soon, and Gray told him that he'd hold him to that.

After the train pulled away, carry Lyon off into the distance, Gray and Juvia decided to stop by the guild. There might be a job they wanted to take on the request board, and the antics of the guild members were generally a good distraction. They hadn't made it very far into the guild, though, before Gajeel shot out a hand to grip one of Juvia's arms as they passed by him. "Let's talk," he told her shortly, pulling her firmly away from Gray. Gray gave her a questioning glance but she just shrugged in response, not knowing what Gajeel would want to talk to her about either.

Once he'd guided them to a quiet corner of the guild, away from everyone else, Gajeel let go of her and put a little distance between them, crossing his arms and leveling a serious look at her. "What's going on here?"

Eyebrows furrowing, she frowned at him. "Juvia doesn't know what you're asking about." She hadn't done anything odd on her way into the guild.

Gajeel frowned back. "I thought I'd caught hints of it before, but I wasn't sure. Now I am, though. You and Stripper have that other stripper's scent all over you."

Oh. She felt her cheeks warm as she realized Gajeel could tell what they had been up to. "Um, yes, well, Juvia and Gray-sama have, ah, gotten closer to Lyon-sama, and now Lyon-sama is dating Gray-sama and Juvia."

"Is that what they're callin' it now?" he asked with an amused chuckle. "Explains a few things, though." Giving her a scrutinizing look, he continued, "They aren't pressuring you into anything, are they?"

She quickly shook her head at him. "Oh, no, Juvia was quite willing." She felt her face flush further at this admission even though it caused Gajeel to relax his stance a little. "Gray-sama was the stubborn one about this, actually, but he accepted what his heart truly wanted in the end."

"Figures," he snorted. "So, you're happy with this, then?"

"Very much so," she told him, a brilliant smile growing on her face as she thought of how she'd woken up that morning.

"Then here's hopin' you stay that way," he said as he patted her head, making her pout at him a bit. "There bein' two of 'em won't keep me from kicking their asses if they hurt you, y'know."

"Juvia can take care of herself, but she appreciates the sentiment," she replied, smiling up at him. They chatted a little longer before Juvia took her leave.

When she returned to Gray's side, he asked, "What was all that about?"

Sitting down next to him, she leaned close and whispered, "Gajeel-kun _knows_."

"Wha- Oh. Dragon slayer senses, huh?" After Juvia nodded, he sighed. "I was hoping we could keep things quiet for a bit longer than this…" He shuddered as a thought occurred to him. "At least Flame Brain isn't around right now. Knowing him, he'd probably blurt something out to everyone like a dumbass."

Juvia couldn't really disagree with that sentiment - she liked Natsu, but discretion generally wasn't his strong suit.

* * *

The accuracy of Gray's statement was proven when, over a month later, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy finally returned from their search for Aquarius' key around the middle of November, just after another of Lyon's visits. Everyone was happy to see the two of them, and even happier to learn that they'd succeeded in finding the key. One of Fairy Tail's impromptu parties was getting into full swing when Natsu and Lucy were able to find some time to sit with Gray and Juvia and catch up.

"You two look like you've been doing well," Lucy commented.

Gray nodded as Juvia replied, "Yes, Juvia and Gray are very happy right now."

"You guys smell kinda different though," Natsu said, frowning a little. After leaning forward to sniff them better, his brows furrowed and he asked loudly, "Why do you both have Lyon's scent on you?"

They both flushed a deep red in response, with Gray looking around wildly before breathing a sigh of relief when he spotted Erza eating cake over near the bar, far beyond earshot. He wanted to break the news of his and Juvia's relationship with Lyon in a controlled fashion, not because Natsu was a clueless idiot. "Ah, um…" Juvia tried to think of a innocent explanation for what Natsu had observed, but wasn't coming up anything.

"Wait a minute…" Lucy said slowly, glancing between them as she put together Natsu's odd question and their reactions. "You don't mean that you and Lyon… _Both_ of you…"

Juvia looked down shyly as she nodded. "The three of us are together now," Gray elaborated.

"Oh, that makes sense," Natsu responded with a small nod. "Lucy always smells like me after- Mmph!"

Lucy clapped a hand over Natsu's mouth, muffling whatever else he was saying, a crimson blush on her cheeks. Pulling her hand away once she was convinced Natsu wasn't going to continue, she took a deep breath, then smiled at them. "Well, I can't say I ever expected something like that to happen, but if it makes you happy, then I'm happy for you."

"I never thought about being part of this kind of thing before," Gray told her seriously, "but… I'm glad we decided to do this."

Leaning against Gray's shoulder and taking his hand in hers, Juvia smiled at Lucy. "Gray-sama, Lyon-sama, and Juvia all love each other very much." Gray's blush, which had mostly receded, came back a bit, but he didn't counteract Juvia's words.

They were quiet for a few moments, then Natsu spoke up again, a curious look on his face. "So, if you like guys, have you ever thought about me like…?"

"Ugh, no!" Gray replied. "I have taste - no offense, Lucy."

"You saying I'm ugly?!" Natsu stood up, glaring at Gray, while Lucy simply shook her head instead of deigning to respond to Gray's statement, and Juvia wondered exactly how embarrassed Gray would get if she pointed out what he'd just implied about Lyon.

Gray got to his own feet, sneering. "If the shoe fits…"

"Well, it's not like I wanna have a stripping pervert interested in me!" Natsu shot back, getting up in Gray's face.

Gray pressed his forehead against Natsu's, retorting, "Take that back, Flame Breath!"

They started throwing punches at each other, a prelude to the inevitable guild-wide brawl that would break out as soon as more people got drawn into the fight, leaving the girls to sigh at their abandoned table. Turning to Lucy, with a sly smile Juvia asked, "So, Lucy, you and Natsu-san, hmm?" Lucy blushed again as the two of them continued to chat while ignoring the chaos around them.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, after eating dinner in their apartment Juvia brought up a subject to Gray. "Wendy has been being kind of awkward around Juvia lately…"

He nodded. "Now that you mention it, she's been acting kind of weird around me, too."

"So Juvia asked Gajeel-kun if he had any idea what she might've done to upset Wendy, and, well…" Her cheeks pinked. "He thinks she might've noticed Lyon's smell on us like Gajeel-kun and Natsu-san did…"

"Oh." Gray started blushing, too. Wendy was still pretty young, but she was old enough to have been given the talk, at least. "We should explain things to her - she's probably wondering what's going on but is too shy to ask."

Juvia nodded. "Should Gray-sama be the one to do that? You know her better than Juvia does…"

"Yeah, but she'd probably be more comfortable talking about the subject with another girl…"

Tilting her head consideringly, she asked, "Perhaps both Juvia and Gray-sama should talk to her, then?"

"That'd be the best way to go," he agreed.

They made plans to have a chat with Wendy the next time all three of them were present in the guild, which happened just a couple of days later. Gray was the first one to approach Wendy where she was sitting and chatting with Charle, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Do you have a minute? Juvia and I'd like to have a private talk with you."

Wendy blinked up at him, expression a little uncertain, before replying. "Sure, Gray-san." Standing up, she turned and gave her Exceed a reassuring smile. "I'll be back before too long, Charle."

Charle, who had never been that fond of either Gray or Juvia, simply sniffed and said, "I'll allow it as long as they both keep their clothes on."

Gray frowned and checked his clothes (still there, good) before starting to lead Wendy towards the entrance to the guild. "I thought that if we talked outside we'd be less likely to be interrupted," he explained, to which Wendy nodded.

Juvia met them by the door, carefully carrying three mugs full of hot chocolate. "Juvia thought that everyone would appreciate something warm out there." After handing out the mugs, she lead the way outside. The early December day was cold and clear, and while all three of the mages could deal with the chilly weather one way or another, the warmth of the hot chocolate was still welcome.

Taking a seat at one of the tables in outside of the guild, the three of them just sipped their drinks for a few moments, a somewhat uncomfortable silence hanging over them. Gray was the one to finally speak. "We've noticed that you've been kinda uneasy around me and Juvia lately."

Wendy looked down at her mug, looking a little ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry if I upset you, it's just… Well…"

Gray did his best to give her a reassuring smile, though it ended up a little uncertain around the edges. "It's okay. You've probably noticed that… that something's different about Juvia and I lately, and you've been wondering about it, haven't you?"

Wendy's mouth made a little 'o' of surprise, then she smiled a little sheepishly. "It was that obvious, huh?"

Juvia shook her head. "That was just a good guess. It took Gray-sama and Juvia a while to figure out what might be bothering Wendy."

Trying to get things back on track, Gray asked, "You know Juvia and I are dating, right?" Wendy gave a small nod. Running a hand through his hair as his cheeks grew a little pink, Gray continued, "And, uh, y'know that adults sometimes do, um, certain things with each other when they're dating, right?" Her own cheeks heating with a blush, Wendy gave an uncertain nod. "Well, we recently started dating Lyon as well."

Wendy's eyes widened and her blush deepened as she understood what Gray was saying. Looking down, she sat there for a while, clearly thinking what she'd learned over. Gray and Juvia waited patiently until she lifted her head again and spoke. "That… does make a few things make more sense, like why Lyon-san has been visiting more lately, but…" Wendy bit her lower lip and fell silent.

"Feel free to ask any question you have," Juvia told her, a small encouraging smile gracing her lips. "Juvia cannot promise that she and Gray-sama will answer, but they will not be offended by honest curiosity."

"Well, it's just… I thought that if you were dating someone, you weren't supposed to date anyone else." Wendy looked back down at where her hands were clasped around her mug.

Gray and Juvia exchanged glances then, accepting that she was probably the better one to field this question, Juvia sighed and responded, "That is somewhat true, but it's a little more complicated than that."

After a brief pause to gather her thoughts, she continued, "What's important is that everyone in the relationship agrees about what is and isn't allowed. Juvia and Gray-sama both wanted Lyon-sama to be with them, and Lyon-sama also wanted to be with them, so everything worked out. But if Juvia or Gray-sama or Lyon-sama were, um," Juvia hesitated, blushing, "intimate with someone else, that wouldn't be okay, because they didn't all agree to that. And it would be even worse to do that and then lie about it."

Wendy nodded, her expression serious as she absorbed Juvia's words. "But, um, is it really possible to love more than one person that much?"

Juvia mulled that question over for a moment before brightening and asking, "Well, Wendy cares about all of her guild mates, right?" Wendy nodded, not sure where Juvia was going with this. "And if another person joins the guild, it doesn't make Wendy care about the people who were already in the guild less, right? She just starts caring about the new member, too."

"That's right…" Wendy agreed after a moment's thought.

Smiling gently, she continued, "What Juvia feels for Gray-sama and Lyon-sama is stronger and more rare than what you feel for guild mates, but the same principle applies - coming to love one person more doesn't necessarily mean that you will love another less." Placing a hand over her heart, she stated, "Gray-sama has long had a place here, but Lyon-sama managed to make one of his own, too."

"So you fell in love with Lyon-san without falling out of love with Gray-san?" Juvia nodded, and Wendy turned her attention to Gray, who looked a bit uncomfortable with all the talk about feelings. "And you came to love Lyon-san while still loving Juvia-san?"

Rubbing the back of his head as his face heated up again, Gray replied, "Yeah. At first I thought it was wrong, feeling that way about two people, but Juvia helped convince me otherwise."

Wendy sat quietly after that, mulling over what they had told her. "Hopefully we've helped you understand this a bit better," Gray finished once it seemed clear that Wendy had run out of questions for now.

Wendy gave them a small smile. "You definitely have. Thank you, both of you."

Smirking a little, Gray raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm a little surprised you didn't say anything about me and Lyon both being guys, though."

Turning surprisingly pink, Wendy mumbled, "Um, well, that's not that weird, is it? Boys liking boys… or, um, girls liking girls. Right?"

Giving her a warm smile, Gray reached out and ruffled Wendy's hair. "Of course not. It's perfectly natural. And when you start dating, well, I'm sure lots of us are going to want to make sure they're good enough for you, but it won't matter if they're a girl or a boy or what."

Smiling back, Wendy murmured a "Thanks". The silence as they all finished their hot chocolate was far more comfortable than it had been before.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a few other ideas for one-shots set in the same universe as Three Times Is… and this story, which I'll be writing and posting as inspiration for them strikes. Please let me know what you thought of this. :^)


End file.
